At least seven large Oklahoma school districts said Friday they have no intention of showing a video of state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters discussing his state agency’s new Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism, despite Walters saying doing so was required.
Superintendents of the Edmond, Mustang, Moore and Norman districts each sent a letter to parents and others saying they would not show the video. The Tulsa World reported the Owasso and Tulsa districts wouldn’t share the video, and news website Oklahoma Voice quoted the Mid-Del Schools superintendent, Rick Cobb, as saying his district would also forego showing the video.
The state attorney general’s office backed the districts up. “There is no statutory authority for the state schools superintendent to require all students to watch a specific video,” said Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office. “Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights.”
Walters’ emailed edict was sent just hours after the agency he runs, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, issued a news release in which Walters said more than 500 Bibles had been purchased for Oklahoma public schools, specifically for Advanced Placement Government classrooms.
The announcement and the video — which did not provide specific details about how the Bibles were procured or how much the books cost — are the latest in a flurry of moves by Walters as he works to elevate his national profile.
Republican President-elect Donald Trump is quickly filling out his incoming Cabinet, and Walters’ name has been mentioned by some national news outlets as a potential pick for education secretary or adviser. Both Trump and Walters have called for the U.S. Department of Education to be abolished.
“At this point, all I can do is laugh,” said state Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman, who just won reelection in a Republican-majority district while campaigning on a platform of fighting Walters. “Where has the common sense gone? … The Republicans I know aren’t for this kind of crap. They love their public schools, and they understand local control and listen to their (district) superintendents, and they don’t want someone telling them what to do.”
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Email to district superintendents ordered them to show Walters video
Oklahoma public schools superintendents received an email Thursday night from Walters ordering them to show the video, which lasts one minute and 24 seconds, to their students. In the email, which contained multiple grammatical errors, Walters wrote, “We are in a dangerous time for this country. Student’s (sic) rights and freedoms regarding religious liberties are continuously under assault.”
He went on to say the new office within the state Education Department “will be working to thwart any attempts to disrupt our Oklahoma student’s (sic) fundamental freedoms.”
Walters ordered district superintendents to show the video to “all kids that are enrolled” and to “send this video to all parents as well.”
Walters closes the video with a prayer, noting students did not have to participate. He specifically asked for blessings on “President Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country.”
Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald told parents in a letter Friday that district would continue “to teach the Oklahoma state standard and curriculum approved by our local school board that we have always taught. Any changes to that would be based on local decisions.
“Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously ruled that we have authority to make these decisions at the local level and we will continue to do so.”
Mustang Public Schools Superintendent Charles Bradley said in his letter to parents that district officials had “no plans to interrupt the instructional day to show or send this video.”
“Mr. Walters, through his agencies, has the means to distribute this video should he choose,” Bradley added.
Moore Public Schools Superintendent Robert Romines noted his district “is committed to complying with directives” from the state education agency, but “(w)e want to ensure we make informed decisions that uphold the rights of our students and their families and support state and federal laws.”
Norman Public Schools Superintendent Nick Migliorino encouraged patrons “to keep things in perspective during times of heightened rhetoric and public debate. While these external conversations can be distracting and overwhelming at times, remember they are just conversations.”
Sen. Mark Mann, D-Oklahoma City, who was sworn into office Wednesday, encouraged other districts to follow suit in not showing the video. Mann is a former member of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education.
“Ryan Walters needs to focus on doing his job, and less on political theater,” Mann said. “Districts should ignore this demand and rely on guidance from their local school boards about the kind of media and information they deem necessary and appropriate for their students and parents.
“When Oklahoma needs to make gains in reading and math scores, the last thing we need to be doing is pushing the superintendent’s blatant, self-serving political agenda.”
Lawmakers also question the purchase of Bibles by Walters
As the video controversy swirled, legislators also wondered about the purchase of Bibles, which Walters touted in another video posted on social media Thursday.
“Today we purchased over 500 Bibles that will be in the AP government classrooms across the state,” he said.
Walters said the move represented “the first in the nation Bible purchase explicitly for use in schools as an academic and literary resource,” and described the purchase as “the first step toward providing Bibles for every classroom in the state.”
The purchase was separate from a prior request for proposal issued by the Oklahoma State Department of Education for 55,000 Bibles. The request was originally tailored with specific requirements that few versions of Bible appeared to meet. One exception was the “God Bless the U.S.A.” Bible endorsed by Trump, also known colloquially as the “Trump Bible.”
The request was later withdrawn after coming under criticism, but the agency said Thursday it expects to re-issue a modified version soon. The original request, as well as a Bible-teaching mandate previously issued by Walters, drew a lawsuit from 32 Oklahomans and is currently pending in the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Dan Isett, a spokesman for Walters and the Oklahoma Department of Education, said the order for “this initial purchase” of 500 Trump Bibles was made Thursday and cost $25,000. He said the Bibles “will arrive in the coming weeks.”
Isett didn’t answer questions about the source of funding for the Bibles or about when the department had received approval from the Legislature to spend money on Bibles.
State Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore — the outgoing chair of the House Appropriations and Budget subcommittee on education — did answer the latter question Friday by saying the approval never happened.
“I’m the guy who does the line items (for the state education budget) and there wasn’t one for Bibles,” McBride told The Oklahoman. “We never talked about Bibles. There was never a discussion about Bibles in the education (funding) bill. None whatsoever. Never brought up. Never in their original proposal. It just wasn’t there.
“I still go back to, where did the money come from? There was no appropriation for Bibles. I don’t know I have a problem with buying 500 Bibles … but where did you get the money? I just wish we would focus on reading, writing and arithmetic.”
(This story was updated to add new information.)